Terror gripped another American school today, as police responded to reports of a man wielding a gun at Highland High School in Palmdale, California. Palmdale is located roughly 40 miles north of the downtown Los Angeles area.

The Palmdale Fire Department verified to CNN that they received reports of gunshots heard on the campus.

According to students present, police swarmed the scene en masse. A male suspect has since been detained by authorities. There is no word yet on what exactly the man’s intentions were, but given past national experiences, it seems probable he was determined to inflict harm on innocent people.

Unfortunately, events like this now have little power to surprise us. It seems as if we can barely get through a week without some kind of mass shooting or attempted mass shooting. Our country is awash in a sea of guns, and these weapons of war keep finding their way into the hands of dangerous men who want nothing more than to inflict pain and death on the most vulnerable members of our society.

The Republican Party still refuses to take any action. They’d rather let children die than lose the money flowing in from their NRA donors. Until these cowardly men and women are voted out of office or until they grow a collective spine, gun violence will continue to grip our country.